The present invention relates to saw blades and to systems and methods for manufacturing saw blades.
Traditionally, saw blades, such as reciprocating saw blades, jigsaw blades, and hole saws, are produced by first forming cutting teeth on coil stock and then setting the cutting teeth in a desired pattern. Setting is the process of bending the cutting teeth in opposing directions to provide kerf or clearance for a body of the saw blade during cutting. Setting typically involves striking each cutting tooth with an insert that is made from a harder material than the cutting tooth itself.
During setting, the hard insert initially comes into contact with a tip of the cutting tooth where a surface area of the cutting tooth is smallest. The insert presses against the cutting tooth until enough surface area is contacted to generate a force higher than the yield strength of the saw blade body at a bend point near a root of the cutting tooth. This process, however, may create undesirable deformations along a side face of the saw blade body and at the tip of the cutting tooth.